Author and famed editor of the National Review, Charles C. W. Cooke came in over-the-top, and landed the final blows totally obliterating Chris Murphy’s argument into about a thousand pieces.

For completeness I will show the Connecticut Senator’s rant, followed by Cooke’s absolutely brutal, yet also very educational slaying.

You're right, Ted, it's hard to do this issue justice on twitter, but I commend you for trying. Here's my side of the argument, on why the 2nd Amendment is about collective, not personal defense, and allows the government to reasonably condition firearms ownership. 1/x https://t.co/r3g42QnPGV

2/x First, you selectively quoted the Amendment. It actually reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." It references militias – not personal defense – for a reason.

3/x The founders were strongly opposed to America having a standing army. Madison called it an "instrument of tyranny". But a young America needed to defend itself. This is where militias come in, and the need to make sure citizens were armed in order to serve.

4/x Nowhere in Madison's copious notes from the Constitutional Convention does he mention the 2nd Amendment being about the private right of gun ownership. And the term "bear arms", which today is connected with private gun ownership, back then was connected to militias.

5/x So I don't think the 2nd Amendment is about protecting the right to defend your personal rights with a gun, but I DO believe that the founders did likely believe in a sort of common law right of gun ownership. That's also pretty clear from the history of the time.

You’re going to get the most almighty shock when you get around to reading the Constitution of Connecticut, which from the moment the state has had one, has held that “Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the State.” (1)

You’ll be equally shocked when you learn that the Philadelphia Constitution of 1776, which predates the Second Amendment, reads: “That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state,” and does so in the same sentence it bars standing armies. (2)

And I can barely imagine the scale of your surprise when you learn that Madison didn’t take notes on the first ten amendments at the Convention because the first ten amendments were added later—at the behest of those who thought the enumerated powers doctrine would be abused. (3)

In essence, your position is that our reading of the Second Amendment is a modern mistake—that was made *before it was written* by Pennsylvania (and Vermont, which copied it literatim), and immediately afterwards by your own state, whose Constitution you have never read. (4/4)

Bytes

You’ve said way too many big words for this esteemed Senator to understand. He’s going to ask if you think the founders imagined civilians getting their hands on Automatic Rifle 15s with chainsaw attachments.